Ørjan,

I try to thumb through readings like this one with as much objectivity as possible, so it didn't help to see that, below the book coverage on the URL you listed lies the solicitation "Look for similar books by subject:" leading to the subcategories "Metaphysics" and "Scientology."

(Then again, the local Barnes and Noble files "The Hundredth Monkey" -- a superb resource for skeptics -- under "Metaphysics," so the subcategories could have been as carelessly suggested, I thought. Anyway, I digress...)

While reading through the sample pages I found the idea of parsimony totally absent. For instance, the suggestion that the prayer experiment might not be evidence for God, but rather evidence for "telepathy." Ironically, the author acknowledges that Freud and Jung established psychology as a science (the fact that he questions this notion notwithstanding), but when presenting the results of the prayer experiment, avoids suggesting that psychology could be at work here.

By definition, supernatural phenomena cannot be proved through observation. God, therefore, cannot be proved through empircal measures. The book may do fantastically well, however, as it is built to both massage its readers beliefs and give them a sense that those beliefs have scientific validity.

-LH

• Supernatural != God - stormcrow - February 2, 2002 - 19:04 UTC
• Observation is one step in physical science proof - quiet - February 3, 2002 - 01:11 UTC
  • Defining 'God' doesn't really help. - pmartin - February 3, 2002 - 05:38 UTC
    • Yes - splat - February 3, 2002 - 05:46 UTC
      • Not neccesarily - stormcrow - February 3, 2002 - 05:56 UTC
        • superconductors and superfluids - yanniru - February 5, 2002 - 15:17 UTC
      • " God & Science Forum Message " the browser window reads - quiet - February 3, 2002 - 06:43 UTC
        • Alex could have said that, but would he have wanted to? - quiet - February 3, 2002 - 06:49 UTC
          • "nt" - quiet - February 4, 2002 - 08:28 UTC
        • "nt" - stormcrow - February 3, 2002 - 06:52 UTC
        • "nt" - stormcrow - February 3, 2002 - 06:52 UTC
          • Where's my pizza? - quiet - February 4, 2002 - 23:44 UTC
        • "nt" - pmartin - February 4, 2002 - 03:59 UTC
          • About that - quiet - February 4, 2002 - 23:36 UTC
            • More about that - pmartin - February 5, 2002 - 16:29 UTC
              • You more or less covered that, so here is . . . - quiet - February 5, 2002 - 18:48 UTC
                • posting that music link again - quiet - February 5, 2002 - 18:51 UTC
        • "nt" - splat - February 4, 2002 - 05:51 UTC
          • Evolutionary God has a long attention span, at least ! :) - quiet - February 4, 2002 - 23:42 UTC
            • Freedom threatened by religious bigots and power mad primitives - quiet - February 5, 2002 - 08:10 UTC
              • Still, I will go to religious services - quiet - February 5, 2002 - 20:27 UTC
        • Non-equivalence and equivalence - dolphin - February 4, 2002 - 08:50 UTC
          • First things first..and then I often go take naps - quiet - February 4, 2002 - 21:42 UTC
          • Yes, you're making sense....how will we apply it? - quiet - February 5, 2002 - 01:44 UTC
            • No collapse theory - yanniru - February 5, 2002 - 16:02 UTC
              • Somebody is acting obtuse...deserving an Oscar? - quiet - February 5, 2002 - 18:27 UTC
                • Theory Of Everything, Anything: PERSPECTIVE: FREEDOM - dolphin - February 8, 2002 - 08:43 UTC
                  • Collapse in one sentence! - dolphin - February 8, 2002 - 08:47 UTC
                    • Good stuff - yanniru - February 8, 2002 - 14:40 UTC
                      • What is a 420? - dolphin - February 10, 2002 - 06:04 UTC
                        • It is a celebration - yanniru - February 13, 2002 - 21:59 UTC
                          • O.K. See "Curiouser and Curioser" above (nt) - dolphin - February 15, 2002 - 07:24 UTC
                            • I like the personal experience approach - yanniru - February 15, 2002 - 16:02 UTC
        • Yanniru showed evidence that God is weak and when he was opposed - yanniru - February 5, 2002 - 15:21 UTC
          • when he was opposed, he left the forum - yanniru - February 5, 2002 - 15:40 UTC
            • We presume to say Authority has Responsibility? - quiet - February 5, 2002 - 18:17 UTC
              • my complaint earns a complaint... - quiet - February 5, 2002 - 20:26 UTC
                • Cleared up typos - yanniru - February 6, 2002 - 15:26 UTC
          • It was fishing...the exact opposite of your diagnosis - quiet - February 5, 2002 - 18:19 UTC
  • Supernatural = impossible; but facts is facts (sic). - luis_hamburgh - February 9, 2002 - 16:45 UTC
    • Scientific usage preferred - yanniru - February 9, 2002 - 18:08 UTC
• Who says God is supernatural? - splat - February 3, 2002 - 05:41 UTC
  • I do - luis_hamburgh - February 5, 2002 - 00:35 UTC
    • - luis_hamburgh - February 5, 2002 - 00:36 UTC
    • we discussed this...your definition can serve well as anyone's - quiet - February 5, 2002 - 01:47 UTC